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The Forgotten House – House of Exile

Character Lore

House of Exile – The Fallen

There is a story, old as time, of he who could catch the stars. Unnamed and eternal, the star-catcher would lead the Fallen, rising from the lowest station to the highest exalted peaks. It is a fairy tale allowed to persist by the four-armed to keep the docked hopeful, placated—even the low may one day ascend.

Myth, fairy tale or a prophecy of what will be, it’s best to not take chances. After all, one can’t reach across the black to claim dominion over ten thousand stars with ten thousand arms if they die here and now with only two.

Welcome back Guardians, today we are talking about the Fallen House of Exile. This was the number one requested lore video on the House of King’s episode.

Also be sure to follow me on Twitch for weekly Destiny Lore streams however this week, you will not have to go anywhere as I will stream from Youtube with a guest, AnonPig, just make sure your notifications are turned on. I have been bouncing between youtube and twitch for streams recently and I know that can be confusing, however I am testing a number of set ups for the best quality. Hold tight because very soon I will release a stream schedule of times and platforms. Follow me on twitter to keep updated.

Lastly, I have the winning artwork for this month, the sketch will feature at the end of the video. Artwork on the channel is heavily reliant on Patreon, so be sure to check out the Patreon link below. This is myelin games and I hope you enjoy this latest Destiny Lore episode.

As you likely already know, House of Exile are prominently seen on the Moon and although they do not have a banner, they can be differentiated from other Fallen due to their green colour. Their reasons for being on the Moon are unknown and I can only assume that they aim to gain some sort of power from the Hive. The grimoire card for House of Exile reads,

“House of Exile, They live among the Hive. Of course they’re crazy.”

The creation of the House of Exile may have only occurred after the event known as the Whirlwind, indicating that it is not an original Fallen house. This is reinforced by the grimoire card for the House of Exile which reads,

“Perhaps this is a new House, gathered from the outcast malcontents and disgraced castaways of the others, galvanized by pride or hate or the desire for freedom.”

Furthermore, when Variks mentions the Whirlwind event and the Houses that existed during this time, House of Exile was nowhere to be seen. The Variks, the Loyal card reads,

This seems to indicate that House Judgement, Wolves, Kings, Scar and Winter were some of the first Fallen Houses and reinforces that House of Exile may have been created after the Whirlwind ripped apart the Fallen.

So, House of Exile was made from the outcasts of the other Fallen Houses, hence why “it’s ranks are swollen with Dregs.” Higher level units, like Vandals and Captains still exist in the house, however the House of Exile grimoire card is quite clear that Dregs make up the bulk force. This is further reinforced by the fact, that we are only aware of two Barons, the first is Frigoris who can be found in the Hellmouth bearing the Exile colours. The second is mentioned in Ghost Fragment: Fallen, which documents Cayde-6’s time before the Vanguard. Cayde reminisces about one specific interaction with a Exile Fallen Baron whilst on the Moon. Both Cayde and the Fallen Baron found themselves surprised by a swarm of Thralls and whilst they did not technically team up, they also did not try to kill each other and Cayde questions whether the Fallen are more capable of emotions than once thought.

Whilst the presence of at least two Exile Barons indicates that higher ranking units could exist in the House of Exile, we do not know of any Exile Kells, Archons or Prime Servitors. In fact, almost the opposite is true, the Fallen in the House of Exile do not appear to adopt the typical Fallen hierarchy.

This is reinforced in the Kell of Kells grimoire card, where Variks says,

“He may seek to gather the Exiles, but they will not follow. They follow none, no Kell, no Archon.”

Remember also that the House of Exile card said that some of the members may be Exiled because they wanted freedom from their Kells, it reads

“galvanised by pride or hate or the desire for freedom”.

This may mean that all Fallen in the House of Exile, Dreg, Vandal or Captain are considered equal and maybe the Frigoris’s team who assaulted the Hellmouth did so out of choice.

Even though it seems that the House of Exile do not want a Kell or Archon, I am interested in knowing if the Dregs of the House of Exile could develop the strength of a Kell or Archon i.e. could the Dregs in the House of Exile grow their limbs back to become a Vandal, then grow stronger to become a Captain and then go stronger to become an Archon, or eventually Kell etc etc. Or are the Exiled Fallen permanently stuck in their ranking. If they can progress, House of Exile may be more powerful than we expect and like the House of Kings, they may be very good at keeping their strength a secret.

To better understand if the Dregs of the House of Exile could develop higher ranking four-armed units, like Vandals and Captains, we need to understand the process of regrowing their limbs. There is no conclusive evidence on how this occurs however there are a couple of different theories.

One theory is that the Fallen limbs automatically regenerate and the limbs of Dregs are prevented from regenerating by using Docking caps. One bounty actually requests we collect these docking caps from the Fallen. When a Dreg proves themselves in battle, the docking caps are removed and their limbs allowed to regenerate. This theory may be reinforced by the Dreg grimoire card which reads,

“Dregs seek to prove their worth. Only a few will survive to gain promotion and regrow their limbs.”

The fact that it says “regrow” implies that they have the biological ability to regrow their limbs and the fact that it mentions that a “promotion” is required, indicates that the Dregs must be given permission to regrow, hence why removing the docking caps is necessary. BUT if this was true, then surely the House of Exile Dregs would just remove their Docking caps and regrow their arms. So why haven’t they? The question leads to two alternative theories, a) the Fallen cannot biological regrow their limbs and the replacement limbs are manufactured or b) the House of Exile are unable to remove the docking caps and therefore cannot regrow their limbs.

Let’s look at option a) first and assume that the Fallen in fact cannot regrow their limbs. One grimoire card actually suggests the limbs are manufactured. In Ghost Fragment Fallen 2, it says

“1 dreg honoring self and House, leading to consideration of fabricated arms”.

In addition, with new information from Rise of Iron, we may also speculate that the Splicers,

“the body hackers and bioengineers”,

may in fact manufacture these arms. Hence, maybe House of Exile are unable to manufacture new limbs because they do not have an Exile Splicer.

Let’s now look at option b), the House of Exiles cannot remove the docking caps and therefore cannot regrow their limbs. Once again, this may be explained by the Splicers. Maybe, the Splicers designed the docking caps and the Splicers also install and remove the docking caps, so without a Splicer there is no way of removing the cap. Once again, this is highly speculative and the only real link between the Splicers and limb regeneration is that Splicers are referred to as “bioengineers”.

The last thing to note about the regeneration of limbs, is that SIVA seems to have given another option to limb regeneration. In the Game Informer post on the 10th August it says,

“one of the designers told me that there’s a story basis for Archon Forge. It plays off the Fallen hierarchy system. A Fallen foot soldier has to scavenge for a piece of SIVA technology to prove his worth to his House, and then he offers it up at the Archon’s Forge in order to earn the right to fight and improve his standing.”

Once again, it is not very specific but seems to suggest that the Archon Forge and SIVA may be involved with the House of Devil’s limb regeneration.

Regardless to what you believe, when it comes to the House of Exiles, the highest ranking units are only two Barons, so either they are very good at hiding their strength or they simply do not have higher standing units.

However, there may be one exception, one high level unit that may exist in the House of Exiles, and that is a Prime Servitor. Some would argue that a Prime Servitor is essential for any Fallen house to survive, as Prime Servitors are required to birth regular Servitors, and Servitors produce ether that the Fallen depend on for life. The servitor grimoire card reads,

“Servitors are living relics of the once-mighty Fallen civilisation. Packed with ultra-sophisticated machinery, they process matter and energy into the Ether that the Fallen depend on for life.”

The Sepiks Prime card also reads,

“While the Kells are the political leaders of the Fallen, Servitors are said to be their gods- and the source of their life-sustaining ether.” Ghost Fragment Fallen 3 also says, “Remember the City that even now sends its ghouls to murder our Primes, starve our ether, and leave our young to die gasping.”

SO, if we destroy the Prime Servitor of a Fallen House, we cut off their supply of ether. The necessity of a servitor is further supported by their constant return, every time we defeat one. Sepiks Prime will return in the Rise of Iron as Sepiks Perfected, Kaliks Prime returned as Kaliks Reborn, House of Winter’s Prime Servitor, Simiks, “remains elusive” according to the grimoire card. The fact that the Prime Servitors do not seem to remain dead, may indicate the Fallen’s reliance on them. So, there is a possibility, in fact maybe even a necessity, that House of Exile have a prime servitor that provides the life sustaining ether.

However, I do admit, that this whole theory relies upon the assumption that servitors are born from Prime Servitors, whilst this is supported in the Simiks-3 griomire card which reads,

“Simiks-3 was born of Winter’s Prime Servitor”,

I still think it is debatable, as “born of” may be more metaphoric, indicating the Servitor’s allegiance. In addition, we know the Fallen have the ability to remake Prime Servitors.

So the question still remains, is the House of Exile a threat to the City? Our greatest mistake would be to underestimate a Fallen House, a Fallen House that has managed to survive on the Moon with the Hive, a Fallen House with nothing to lose and everything to gain, a Fallen House galvanized by pride or hate or the desire for freedom. Next time you see a Dreg bearing the House of Exile colours maybe you will think differently.

That concludes this latest Destiny lore episode. Let’s move onto the artwork, as voted by you, Touch of Malice will be completed in full colour and greater detail. I will take requests on how to complete this artwork in stream. Once again, the artwork heavily relies on Patreon funding and I would love to make another Destiny comic book, so if you would like to see more artwork on the channel please consider a donation.

If you would like to support this video and cannot think of a comment, leave the phrase “Docking Cap” to speculate that the Dregs in the House of Exile are permanently stuck within their rank, unable to remove the caps and regrow their limbs. Whilst it is a curse, it is also unifies them unlike any Fallen House. Once again, it has been pleasure, this is Myelin games. peace